Japanese police say 20-year-old Masayuki Ishikawa was on a Tokyo street corner after midnight when he objected to strangers who stared at him. They were staring at him because he was wearing a Winnie-the-Pooh costume, accompanied by two other people dressed as a panther and a mouse.

Ishikawa and his friends beat up the two victims and stole $160 (84 pounds) from them, the spokesman said, adding the group had apparently donned the unusual garb because they had run out of clean clothes.